Connecting the Past to the Present in the Middle-Level Classroom: A Comparative Case Study

Abstract

Abstract This comparative case study examines the manner in which 2 middle-level social studies teachers established connections between the past and the present within their curriculums. The teachers who participated in this project worked in different school districts: one teaching a 7th-grade U.S. History curriculum and the other teaching a 6th-grade Global Studies curriculum. Data were obtained through classroom observations, teacher interviews, and the collection of instructional artifacts. This study employed a conceptualization of a history curriculum for democratic citizenship as the framework for critique of each of the past/present connections made by the participating teachers. Analysis of the data explored how some forms of past/present connections enabled students to use their understanding of the past to apprehend and act for the common good in the present, while others fell short of this ultimate goal.